Wrong Choice
by kristy267
Summary: Elena goes to the Salvatore house looking for Stefan.Instead she finds Damon having a form of breakdown. She stays to comfort him, but ends up uncovering a secret.  *A different take on Elena finding out about Damon's werewolf bite.* *Written before 2x22*


"Stefan?" Elena called into the house, closing the front door behind her.

"Loverboy's not here," Came Damon's reply from the parlor. Elena walked the short distance from the door, to the parlor to find Damon doing what he does best: drinking. "I can substitute though, if you'd like." Damon flashed her a smile from where he laid stretched out on the couch.

Elena took a seat in one of the wooden armed chairs, placing her purse beside her. "I'll survive, but thanks for the offer."

Damon frowned and shrugged. "Suit yourself. You have no idea what your missing though, Miss Pierce." Elena waited for Damon to correct himself, but he didn't. He just sat there, flipping through one of Jonathan Gilbert's journals.

"Gilbert."

"What?" He spat the word out almost as if she had disturbed him.

Elena sighed and stood up again. She didn't like Damon when he was in this kind of mood. He was rude and sometimes down right mean. "My last name is Gilbert, not Pierce. I'll come back later, when Stefan's around." She took about three steps before Damon stood before her, drink and journal forgotten.

Damon stared at her with a rather pained expression. Slowly, he brought a hand up and glided the backs of his fingers down the left side of her face. Then, he captured the hair closest to her face between two fingers and seemed to stare in confusion.

"Damon," Elena placed her hand over his and brought it away from her face. "Don't do that."

"I know your name," He paused and added, "Elena." As if it were an after thought. "I'll tell Stefan you came by."

"Thanks," She side stepped and walked around him. Something was wrong, Damon was acting quite strange.

Elena made it all the way to her car when she realized she had left her purse inside. She had just made it to the porch when the sound of breaking glass sounded from behind her. Elena turned around just in time to see a lamp sail to the ground from one of the second story rooms. Elena hurried inside and up the stairs. Finding Damon wasn't hard, all she had to do was follow the sound of things breaking.

The door was open to Stefan's room. When she stepped inside, she narrowing missed being hit with several books Damon throw into the hallway. He didn't see her come in, and continued to throw whatever came to hand. Most of the breakables hit walls and multiple things ended up in the yard outside.

"Damon!" Elena exclaimed.

Damon paused and turned to look at her. His black button down shirt was open and blood dripped from his mouth on to his chest. Elena wasn't as horrified by the look on his face as she should have been. His expression was familiar though, more so then she liked. Stefan had the same look on his features a few times before, such as the time he'd almost killed Amber.

"You shouldn't be here," Damon said in a labored voice caked in emotion. "Leave."

Elena shook her head. "No," She took a few hesitant steps forward. "Talk to me."

He glared angrily at her, his jawline tight. "I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't." Elena stood within arms length now.

Damon laughed bitterly. He moved faster then her eyes could catch. "There's no one I don't hurt!" Damon shouted as he shot back in front of her, throwing something at her feet.

Elena looked down and screamed. She took several steps back and stared in horror at the body of Andi Star. She'd seen a lot of bodies in the time she'd known Damon and Stefan, but this was different. Andi's throat had practically been ripped out and she was covered in blood. Still fresh blood.

"Don't you get it?" Damon said in a heartbreaking voice. "You were right not to trust me in the beginning. In the end, you'll end up dead."

Elena pushed aside the disgust she felt towards him. Damon was a monster in many ways and over time she'd learned to live with that fact. Stefan wasn't much different. If she could handle the murders Stefan had done, she could handle Damon's. Vampire's claim to be under control but none of them are. When the monstrous side wants to be set free, vampires are helpless.

"One day, I will be dead," Elena told him, stepping over Andi's lifeless body. She approached Damon with cation and he watched her with tears in his eyes. The pain he carried was laid out on the surface and that spelled out trouble. "But my death will not be by your hand."

"Just go!"

"You need someone - " Elena found herself against Stefan's bookshelf without warning. Damon held her there by her shoulders.

"What I need is for you to leave!" Despite his words, Damon didn't release her. "Do you want to end up like the others? Do you want to die?"

"I want to help you, Damon," Elena raised her hands up and placed them on Damon's face. She brushed his hair from his eyes, and used her shirt sleeve to wipe the blood from his mouth. The only thing left was his eyes and the half crazed looked they held. Her hands couldn't take that look away, but her words might. "But you have let me in or I can't do much of anything."

He stared at her for so long, Elena was starting to wonder if he'd even heard her words. She stood there, braced against the bookshelf, and watched as the half crazed gaze faded into full on crazy. His eyes were wild and she wasn't sure how to approach the situation anymore. If it weren't for the scared little boy set of his face, Elena would have been terrified.

"What happened to your hair?" Damon questioned, bring one hand off her shoulder so the tips of his fingers could toy with the ends of her hair.

"Nothing, Damon, I haven't done anything to it." Elena couldn't understand how her hair had anything to do with the problem at hand.

Damon gave her a doubtful and questioning look. "Don't toy with me, Kathrine. I know you well enough to see it's clearly different. What happened to the beautiful curls?" Kathrine? That was the second time today he'd mistaken Elena for Kathrine. He'd never done that before...

Elena shook her head. "I'm not Kathrine." She moved her right shoulder from his hold and placed both hands on his chest. Just before Elena could push Damon away, he took a step back.

"Of course your Kathrine. Who else would you be?" God, she wanted to help him so bad. Elena just didn't know how. And quite frankly, with Damon calling her Kathrine, Elena was starting to wonder if there was anything she could do to help him.

"I'm Elena, remember?" Damon looked truly confused now.

Elena moved away from the bookshelf and tried to put some distance between them. While she wanted a bit of distance, Damon wanted to be close. Every step she took away, he mirror by coming closer. Elena was so focused on watching Damon's movements, she forgot to navigate herself safely from the room. It wasn't until she went to take a step back, and felt nothing but open air, that she remembered the stairs.

Elena gasped, feeling herself start to fall back and unable to stop it. For a split second, Damon didn't move. He just stared at her as if she were a stranger. Relief washed over Elena, when Damon's hands grasped hers and pulled her away from the staircase.

It was in that moment, as she still held tightly to Damon's hands, that Elena caught sight of what the brothers had been hiding from her. Damon's arm looked hideous.

"My, God!" Elena exclaimed, feeling as if her eyes were going to pop out of her head. "What happened?"

Damon followed Elena's eyes down to his arm. He quickly jerked his arms away, and hid them behind his back. He'd been wishing to keep his bite from her but that plan was just thrown out the window.

"It's nothing."

"The hell it is!" Elena tried to reach around him, to get another look but Damon wouldn't let her. She throw her hands up before crossing them over her chest. "What happened? What is that?"

He didn't want to answer. He didn't want to tell her he was going to die. He just wanted Elena to stay in the dark. If she didn't know he was going to die, she couldn't blame herself for his death.

Damon knew her. He knew just what would happen if he told her the truth. When he died, Elena would feel as if it were her fault. She didn't make Tyler bite him, nor was she responsible for most of the things going on in her life. But yet, Elena still felt as if she should take full responsibility for it all. Damon didn't want his death placed on Elena.

Damon shook his head. "Just forget it, alright?" His voice was pleading.

"No," Elena sounded to damn determined for her own good. "Tell me."

"Elena - "

"We're suppose to be playing by my rules, right? If your doing something stupid that's going to put us all in even more danger, I need to know about it."

He was dumbfounded. She really didn't expect anything good from him, did she?

"For your information," Damon snapped, making his way down the stairs, with Elena in tow. "I was doing you and your friends a favor. You think I asked that Tyler punk to - " He stopped short, realizing his slip up.

Elena's words fell away from her lips, as the horrible truth seemed to slap her dead in the face. Elena shook her head, not wanting to believe the path her thoughts were leading her down. "No. He didn't - If he - Oh God, Damon, tell me he didn't."

Damon slowly faced Elena and was rather surprised to see tears in her eyes. He watched her grimly, as he pulled his shirt sleeve up to fully reveal the damage the young werewolf had caused. "Looks like Karma finally caught up with me."

Elena ran hesitate fingers down Damon's arm, feeling as if the air was being pulled from her lungs. Surprising them both, Elena burst into tears and wrapped her arms around Damon's body. Damon held Elena tightly, wishing desperately that she had listened and left earlier.

Elena and Damon stood in the parlor holding one another for the longest time. Eventually, Elena's cell tore the two apart. She reluctantly left Damon's arms, to answer the call.

"That was Stefan," Of course, Damon thought bitterly. He always seemed to be the one to ruin his time with Elena.

"Go meet your love, if you must." He said the words, not meaning them. He wanted her to stay more than anything. If Damon was going to die, he wanted Elena by his side. He wanted her beautiful face to be the last thing he saw. Her voice, the last sound to touch his ears. Her touch, the last thing he felt.

"I must." Elena used the back of her hand, to brush away her tears and gave him a small smile. "But I promise, I'll be back later today." She retrieved her purse and planted a kiss on Damon's cheek before leaving.

He watched her go, anxiously awaiting her return.

Before going to meet Stefan at the Grill, there was one thing Elena had to do.

**XxXx**

The Lockwood mansion towered over Elena, as she made her way up the front stairs. Just before ringing the doorbell, Elena had second thoughts. Was this the right thing to do? Damon's arm flashed into her mind, and she decided it was. She rang the doorbell and bounced on her heels as she waited for someone to answer the door.

As if he knew she was there for him, Tyler was the one to open the door.

Elena opened her mouth to use words, instead of actions, but her hand decided other wise. Before she could stop herself, Elena's palm was making contact with Tyler's cheek. A slapping sound reached her ears, just before the sting ran through her hand. Tyler's cheek turned bright red, and his face took on a look of complete and utter shock.

"What the hell, Elena?"

"I thought you were my friend, Tyler," Elena forced herself to use her voice, not her hand to confront him. She hadn't intended to slap him, but she had to admit, it felt pretty good. "How could you?"

Tyler looked at Elena hopelessly confused. "How could I what?"

"The other night, when Jenna was killed and John gave his soul to save me, Damon was rescuing you. You returned the kind gesture by biting him. If that's how you return favor's, perhaps someone should have killed you a long time ago."

"Whoa! What?" Elena was disgusted by the fact that he had the guts to look hurt. Damon was the one dying and he was the one feeling betrayed. She would have slapped him again, if it weren't for the fact that, on a full moon, he might come for her next. "Elena, if I bit Damon it was an accident. Look, would you just come in? It'll make explaining a lot easier." Despite her new hate for Tyler, something told Elena she should at least hear him out.

By the time Elena left the Lockwood's she felt like an idiot. Tyler hadn't even known Damon was bitten. It had only just occurred to Elena that she might be he only one to know of Damon's wound. Even if Tyler was responsible for what was happening to Damon, Elena knew she couldn't really hate the guy. From the sounds of it, when Tyler was a wolf, he was a different person, not the friend she'd known all her life.

As Elena slide into her car, the weight of the world seemed to rest on her shoulders. So much had been about her lately, she'd almost forgotten the ones she loved most were being effected by problems as well.

Tyler was a werewolf that couldn't exactly be controlled. If Bonnie kept using her powers like she'd been doing, she was going to die very young. Caroline was forced to be a vampire, in love with a human, with a vampire hunter for a mother. Jeremy had no other family, outside of Elena - thanks to Elena. Jenna and John had gotten themselves killed for her sake. While Damon and Stefan were going down that same path, death to save Elena.

When had her life become the only important life?

Elena then wondered, if she were to die right now, would she be satisfied with her life? After a moments thought, she realized she wouldn't be. Not because of all the loved ones already dead. But because of the one loved one on his way to death.

"I made the wrong choice," Elena whispered to herself, realizing only now how much Damon Salvatore really and truly meant to her. She'd chosen the wrong brother from the beginning. But now that she acknowledged her mistake, it was far to late to fix it. Because Damon was going to die a painful death, and there was nothing she could do to save him.

**a.n.: Review Please! :)**

****I OWN NOTHING**  
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